A calf delivered
before the times here specified is an abortion and never lives,
however little premature its birth may have been, as its hooves are
weak and imperfect. The cow as a rule bears but one calf, very
seldom two; she submits to the bull and bears as long as she lives.
Cows live for about fifteen years, and the bulls too, if they
have been castrated; but some live for twenty years or even more, if
their bodily constitutions be sound. The herdsmen tame the castrated
bulls, and give them an office in the herd analogous to the office
of the bell-wether in a flock; and these bulls live to an
exceptionally advanced age, owing to their exemption from hardship and
to their browsing on pasture of good quality. The bull is in fullest
vigour when five years old, which leads the critics to commend Homer
for applying to the bull the epithets of 'five-year-old', or 'of
nine seasons', which epithets are alike in meaning. The ox sheds his
teeth at the age of two years, not all together but just as the
horse sheds his. When the animal suffers from podagra it does not shed
the hoof, but is subject to a painful swelling in the feet. The milk
of the cow is serviceable after parturition, and before parturition
there is no milk at all.
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